by Cynthia Eden
“Take another breath,” he growled at her, water streaming from his dark hair. “Again, love. Fucking again.”
And her starved lungs greedily drew in the air. As soon as she had that second breath, his lips crashed down on hers. He kissed her wildly, desperately, and the need she’d tried to push down so deep inside of herself flared to life. She wanted—
His mouth tore from hers. “Thought you were burning in front of me.”
She’d thought the same thing. But…
She smiled at him even as she kicked to tread water. “Thank goodness for super speed.” Because as the fire had raged all around them, consuming everything in sight like a hungry beast, she’d hauled ass up those stairs. And she’d grabbed her panther by the wrist on her way up.
Wait. Stop the thought. He is not your anything. Get that straight.
“Goodness…right. That’s what we should thank.” But his lips had twisted.
“Are you…are you hurt?” Her voice was husky and she didn’t know if that was because of the all smoke and flames that had been on the boat or because she had a weird urge to seduce the guy.
“Few burns. They’re already healing.”
Right. Shifters healed so fast.
“What about you?”
She was staring at his mouth again. Adrenaline had her feeling shaky. Adrenaline and maybe desire. “Fine.” A few blisters. Nothing that wouldn’t heal.
“Good, that’s—”
“Help me!”
Her gaze jerked to the right. The Pandora was there—and still burning quite brilliantly. Flames were shooting into the sky and probably attracting all sorts of attention. And that desperate, terrified “Help me!” cry had come from beside the boat.
Only…
The guy who’d uttered that cry had just slipped below the water’s surface.
And Julian was simply treading water with her and watching the fellow drown.
Fine. I’ll save him myself. She surged toward the human, but Julian pulled her back. “No way. We’re getting out of here before this place becomes a circus scene.” He began swimming away from the dock. And away from the drowning human.
“We’re helping him!” She shoved against Julian, but he didn’t let her go. When it came down to a battle of strength, unfortunately, his trumped hers.
Damn shifters.
“Julian, no, he’s just a kid!” He was a kid who had disappeared beneath the surface of the water and who had not resurfaced.
“He’s the bastard who just tried to kill us both,” Julian snapped back. He kept swimming and dragging her away from the burning boat and the dying boy.
Not a boy. He was probably around eighteen. Maybe nineteen. And he’d looked so scared on the Pandora.
“You have got to stop trying to save people who want you dead,” he continued, not even sounding a bit out of breath. As if they hadn’t just hurtled out of a burning boat and dropped into the ocean. “That’s just gonna come back and bite you in the ass if you don’t.”
Her heart slammed into her ribs—and she slammed her elbow into Julian. He grunted, as if surprised, but his hold didn’t loosen.
“He’s dying!”
Julian stopped swimming. His gaze met hers. “He was going to kill you. That means to me…he is dead.”
But she shook her head. We’re wasting time…time that human doesn’t have. “You cut the bomb off him. You were trying to save him. You might pretend to be some heartless bad-ass, but you’re not. You saw a terrified kid, same as me, you saw—”
He jerked her even closer, smashing her body against his. “I was trying to cut through the wires and stop the bomb, not save the jackass.”
She blinked. Was that true?
“I am a heartless bad-ass. You need to remember that shit.” His jaw hardened. “Now we’re getting the fuck out of here. This place was a trap. I need to regroup and figure out what the hell is happening.”
“I can’t leave him.” It was her human side talking, the side she hadn’t been able to kill. The side others hadn’t been able to kill, either. “Please, Julian, just get him out of the water. Or let me go so I can get him. I’ll make a deal with you.” Her words tumbled out because the kid was gone. Sinking to a watery grave. “I’ll give you anything you want, just—”
“Deal,” he said flatly.
And just like that, he let her go.
He sank beneath the water, seeming to drop like a stone. One moment, he was there. The next, he was just gone. She spun around, looking for him, then she dove under the water, heading toward the general direction that she thought the human was in. The water was dark and murky, and there were no stars out, there was only the waves, only the ocean stretching and—
Julian’s eyes. Julian’s glowing, golden eyes.
He was in front of her. And he had the human. Julian caught her wrist and they kicked toward the surface. Then they were moving—so fast. She used her own speed and strength to help Julian. They didn’t swim back to the dock, but instead they traveled to a small beach just a bit down the shoreline. Julian carried the boy out, and the fellow wasn’t moving. He hung like a rag doll in Julian’s arms. Julian dumped the boy on the beach.
“A deal is a deal.”
She scrambled toward the human. Was he even breathing? She put her fingers to his throat. Rose didn’t feel a pulse. She put her ear next to his mouth. There was no stir of air. And he felt so cold. God. They’d gotten him too late.
She started CPR, pushing down with her compressions. She’d just counted her tenth compression when—
He choked up air. Yes! He choked and sputtered and seemed to vomit out water as he turned onto his side. He was alive. They’d saved him and—
And Julian already had his claws at the kid’s throat.
“Julian, seriously, give the guy a minute.” But she kept her voice low. They weren’t that far from the flames. Other humans were over there. She could hear their voices. It wasn’t as if folks could just ignore flames shooting into the sky—that show had attracted plenty of attention.
And attention was a bad thing in the paranormal world.
“Who are you?” Julian’s voice was cold and hard as he glared at the kid.
The human trembled.
“I don’t ask questions twice.” His claws cut into the guy’s skin. “Remember that.”
“F-Francis Haddow…” He licked his lips. “Friends…call me Frankie.”
“Do I look like I’m your fucking friend?”
Francis shook his head.
“Why the hell did you try to kill yourself and us?”
Francis’s eyes ballooned. “What? No!” His body trembled. “No, no, I—”
Julian yanked him up and pointed toward the flames. “You see that big ball of fire over there? You did that, mate. You set off a bomb on the Pandora. You nearly killed yourself and you tried to take us to hell with you.”
“OhmyGod.” Francis shuddered. He couldn’t seem to stop shuddering. “No, no, no. I was just at a bar, I used my fake ID, I got inside and then…” His eyes squeezed shut. “I don’t know what happened, I swear, I don’t know!”
“You were mumbling your ‘Simon says’ bullshit constantly and now you want me to buy that you don’t remember—” But Julian broke off. Then he swore. A lot. And his British accent got thicker.
A sign that wasn’t good. She’d learned that. Usually, his accent just flowed lightly beneath his words—like when he called her love. But when he went all clipped with his voice…she knew that meant trouble.
“Nice one, you dodgy bastard.” Julian glared at the flames in the distance. “Nice one.”
Uh, from where she was standing, there was nothing nice about it.
Julian pulled the human up by the scruff of his neck. “You’re coming with us, Francis.”
“No!” Francis was almost yelling. A bad thing considering they didn’t want to attract any attention. “I’m going home.” He tried to run.
Rose winced because she
knew that plan wasn’t going to work out for him.
It didn’t. Francis made it maybe two feet before Julian’s fist plowed into his face…and down Francis went. He was out completely.
She crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at Julian. “Did you have to knock him out?”
“Absolutely.” Water still dripped down Julian’s body. His shirt clung to his chest like a second skin. He scooped up Francis as if the kid weighed nothing and threw him over his shoulder. “Can’t have him running, not when I need more answers.”
She rather wanted answers, too.
“Come on,” Julian said as he strode down the small beach. “I’ve got a friend nearby. He’ll take us to safety for the night.”
Safety. She could use a bit of that. But… “Exactly where is this safe house?”
“You’re not going to like the answer.”
“I like very little about this night.”
He kept walking. “It’s Luke’s house.”
Her eyes squeezed closed. Luke. Luke Thorne. Luke…AKA the Lord of the Dark. The guy who controlled every dark paranormal creature in the world. She was pretty sure he might just be the devil, but she’d always been too afraid of the man to actually ask that question. She did know certain very scary facts about the Lord of the Dark.
He was the most powerful dark paranormal being in the world. No question. Period.
And he’d been able to bring her back from the dead. He’d used some kind of black magic to turn her into a vampire.
The third thing she knew about him? He terrified her.
“I’m not going to Luke’s place.” He had an island nearby. His own private slice of paradise—or, well, hell considering what he was. Luke didn’t like to be near the humans so he generally kept to himself. And woe be unto the person who tried to disturb his sanctuary. “I can’t see him.”
“Relax.” He’d stopped walking, just for a moment. “Luke isn’t there. He’s gone with his lady love. He and Mina vanished to an undisclosed location for the next few weeks. They wanted some quality time. You don’t have to worry about him.”
Had he seriously just said Luke had a “lady love” right then? And that the guy had jetted away for quality time? “He can’t love anyone.”
Now Julian looked back at her. “You think because someone is called…evil…by the rest of the world…you think that automatically means the person can’t love?”
When it came to Luke, yes. She did believe that. Rose nodded.
“He’d die for Mina. He’d give up all his power in an instant—for her.” He stared at Rose. “Even the most powerful beings have weaknesses.”
She glanced toward the flames. Fire. That was her weakness. Luke had been the one to warn her that if she ever burned to ash, she was dead, forever.
“Let’s go. The boat is close by and I am done with this fucking night.” He turned once more.
And she found herself hurrying after him. He was her paranormal protection, right? So she’d stay close, for the moment.
Besides, she didn’t exactly trust him not to hurt the human. Julian could be unpredictable, thanks to his beast side. If he was going to interrogate Francis, she intended to be there. Someone had to keep the panther in check.
They walked in silence for a time, until they approached what she thought was a private house. Only Julian didn’t go into the house. Instead, he headed for the dock behind it.
“Marcos!” Julian’s voice rang out. “Get the boat going, now.”
A man appeared, rushing out to untie the boat. Her gaze darted to the side of the vessel. Devil’s Prize. Oh, jeez…that had to be Luke’s boat.
Julian jumped onboard and dropped the human onto the deck. He just let Francis fall with a thud. “Probably going to need to tie him up,” he muttered as he studied the human with narrowed eyes. “Marcos, toss me some extra rope.”
And the guy did—no questions asked. Marcos just tossed the rope to Julian as if it were a normal thing to basically kidnap a person.
Rose bit her lip as she stood on the wooden dock.
“Marcos.” Julian was tying up Francis, not looking at her as he spoke. “The lady hesitating over there and looking all judgmental is Rose. She’s coming back to the island with us.”
Marcos gave her a quick, searching glance.
“And Rose, this is Marcos.” He tied a quick knot, then nodded, as if satisfied. “Marcos is ex-Navy, and he’s the all-around best captain in the Keys.” Julian ran his hand through his hair, sending droplets of water flying. “Now, the introductions are done, so let’s get the hell out of here.”
Rose exhaled and jumped onto the boat. As soon as her feet touched the deck, Julian was there. His hands wrapped around her body to steady her. Not that she needed steadying.
“Good choice,” he whispered, and she felt his breath stir against her ear. She would not shiver.
She shivered. Dammit. “I didn’t realize I had a choice. You said I had to stay with you. Twenty-four, seven, right? Weren’t those your words?”
He was wet. But warm. Always warm.
“Yeah, those were my words.” He smiled. “But you could have run again. Made me chase you.” He…nuzzled her.
Seriously, that was what he’d just done. Nuzzled her neck as if he were giving her some kind of panther caress.
Then he let her go.
“But if I’d chased you, that would have just brought out the beast in me.” He stared at her with his glowing eyes. “It’s better if he comes out when we’re alone. Not here.”
Rose swallowed. “Julian…”
The boat was already moving.
Julian turned his back to her. “Don’t forget…”
Her hands twisted nervously in front of her.
“I’ve already kept up my part of the deal. Your turn will come soon.”
She knew he’d just given her a warning.
Chapter Five
He wasn’t surprised to find Rayce Lovel waiting on the island’s dock. The wolf shifter would have heard the boat’s approach, and Rayce—being Rayce—would have come down to see just what was happening.
After all, Rayce and Julian had both been left to guard the island in Luke’s absence. If anything happened to the place while their buddy was gone, there would truly be hell to pay.
“Didn’t expect to see you back so soon,” Rayce called out. His blond hair glinted beneath the light on the dock. “Poor hunting night?” Then his gaze darted to Rose—a very quiet Rose. “Or perhaps, a very, very good hunting night?”
Julian growled. He didn’t like the way Rayce eyed Rose. The wolf needed to tone that shit down.
“Why do wet women keep being brought to this island? Not that I’m complaining,” Rayce added as he caught the line that Marcos threw to him. “Quite the contrary. I just—”
“Get the human off the boat. He needs to be taken into containment until morning.” Francis had woken up on the ride out to the island. His terror had turned into screams—screams that had stopped when Julian gagged the fellow. “I am not in the mood to deal with him now.”
No, what he needed right then…it was a run. A wild, fast and furious run across the island. He had to let his beast out. Too much had happened that night—
Two times. Two fucking times death tried to take Rose.
His control was razor thin. The beast demanded his freedom, and the man wasn’t going to be able to hold him back much longer.
“A bound and gagged human?” Rayce bounded onto the boat and eyed the kid. “Definitely an interesting hunting night.”
Julian grunted. “I think he was under a compulsion. He doesn’t seem to remember jack shit right now, but I am hoping with the right…tools…” Tools the human would not like. “With the right tools, I’m hoping that will change.”
Rayce easily slung Francis over his shoulder. “I know just the cell for him.”
Because, yes, Luke’s island paradise came complete with its own prison. Luke truly believed in being prepar
ed.
But before Rayce could leave the boat, Rose stepped into his path. “He’s a kid, okay? Not some prisoner. He doesn’t belong in a cell. He’s confused and scared and he has no idea what’s happening.” Her words tumbled out, fast and husky. And…shaking. “You can’t just lock him up. You can’t hurt him.”
They could. “The cell is for his protection, Rose. Rayce and I aren’t the only monsters on the island right now.”
At that one word—monsters—she flinched. Then she turned the full force of her big, green eyes on him. “Locking him up…how does that make us better than the ONS? How does that make us any better than—than this Collector guy that you keep worrying me about?”
“It doesn’t make us better.” He’d never said he was better and, hell, he was almost out of time. He could feel his muscles jerking and stretching. In just a few moments, he’d be doing a full-on shift right in front of her. He didn’t want her to see that.
Shifts weren’t pretty. They were brutal and they were vicious and, sometimes, if he wasn’t very, very careful…his panther could take over completely.
There was a reason he had no pack to call his own. A reason he’d gone rogue long ago.
He was a killer. Someone who could never be trusted. Especially not around humans. Especially not around…
Someone like her.
I knew that from the beginning, but I couldn’t stay away from her.
“Take Rose to the main house,” he ordered Rayce.
Rayce just lifted his brows. “What? Do I look like some errand boy to you? Drag the human…” he muttered as he turned away, heading up the winding path that led to the house. “Get the girl. Do all my shit for me because I’m Julian and I can’t handle—”
“Rayce.”
His friend—friend, general jack-ass, trouble-maker, whatever—turned back toward him. And whatever he saw on Julian’s face had Rayce tensing.
“Rose,” Rayce said her name flatly. “Bring that sweet ass of yours up here with me, now.”
“I don’t like him,” Rose muttered.
Julian clenched his hands into fists. He jumped off the boat. He had to get away from Rose. He had to get away from them all.